


Two Slow Dancers

by sapphicism (ranpoandpoe)



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Canon Compliant, Childhood Memories, F/F, Inspired by Music, Past Relationship(s), School Reunion, Slow Dancing, Teen Romance, more like teenage years memories though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 08:40:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20005453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ranpoandpoe/pseuds/sapphicism
Summary: Letting go means acceptance, and acceptance is a luxury Joyce and Karen can't have.





	Two Slow Dancers

**Author's Note:**

> this is a little exercise of the use of time tenses! i'm not used to writing in the present tense, and i also wanted to explore the concept of time, so here it is! the fic and the title were both inspired by the song "two slow dancers" by mitski, by the way.

It’s a trait of High School reunions to be nostalgic, so both Karen and Joyce were expecting to feel the weight of the years that passed by in their shoulders and chest — and yet, holding each other’s hands and dancing around the gymnasium, neither of them feels like they had prepared themselves enough for that moment.

Joyce still wears her pants — though it was no longer a rebellious act in 1985 — and Karen still wears her colorful skirt, and that red lipstick thing the other woman likes — or used to like.

They’re dancing awkwardly, lost in their own thoughts, how things would be a hundred times easier if they were young again. Though they seemed hard at the time, Joyce comprehends now, twenty years later, that she misses hiding from the teachers as she kissed and bit Karen’s lips, or smoked a cigarette with Hopper. 

Dancing with each other is their last bit of youth, one that they are holding tightly. They’ve been there for more than ten minutes, dancing without a melody, only moving. Twenty years earlier, that school had a younger Joyce, with a rebellious spark in her eyes, and a younger Karen, with her typical femininity, but her spirit and strength weren’t what society expected from a woman, which made them atypical traits. 

Now, what the school had two women, with abusive and deceased lovers, children whose suffering they couldn’t take away, and the decay of a marriage on their back. Those aspects to be taken into account are the strength with which they hold each other, refusing to let go, because letting go would mean accepting the past is gone. 

Joyce lets out a smile, that contrasts the pain and the dark circles in her eyes, and Karen answers with another, just as painful. Her recently painted nails squeeze the other’s waist tightly, and it’s supposed to hurt, but Joyce doesn’t mind. Karen’s eyes are sad, she thinks to herself, but still contain a certain beauty, a certain mystery. The kind of allurement that made Joyce wish for the destiny to be so kind as to let them be kids in love again — she knows it isn’t.

“It’s good to see you again, Joyce,” Karen speaks as she leaves. No kisses, or bites, or special words, or any hint of the intimacy they used to have. Since the dance was already the goodbye, Joyce is alone again, with a bitter taste inside her mouth. Even slow dances come to an end, after all, no matter how many times the last step is delayed.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope everyone enjoyed that! please, leave a comment, and if you want, follow me on twitter, i'm @wlwsrobin <3


End file.
